Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Review
Throughout Marvel’s ups and downs over the past 25 years, one thing has been a constant: Spider-Man. “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” is something for everyone. It’s fun, uplifting, and all in all, it is Spider-Man.
Peter Parker begins his journey on what it means to be a hero. He has to balance his brand new high school, a special internship at Oscorp, and being the hero everyone knows and loves.
It is important to note that this show is not set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It is set in an alternate universe where heroes do exist, but the story is a little different than what most people know. It is also important to note that this is an animated show, which is actually one of its best aspects. While there are times where the animation may look a little odd, it does very well for what its purpose is.
With the animation style for this show, at times it felt like a comic book had legitimately come to life. Some scenes would have a split screen with Spider-Man doing his flips and tricks while fighting the everyday bad guy. Again, sometimes the animation is a little off putting when there is not any action. While it may work for a comic book, it does not always work for the silver screen.
One of the best things about this story is how contained it is. It largely sticks to Spider-Man. It’s not everyday that this happens. While the MCU is great because of how it literally brought comics to life, there is a lot of overlap that happens between characters that take away from the main point or story. Take a look at “Captain America: Brave New World” for example. It’s a movie that features Captain America but also the Red Hulk, two characters that typically wouldn’t interact, and two characters that did not mesh all that well together on screen. “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” has cameos, but they don’t distract anyone from Spider-Man.
Fan favorites like Daredevil and Doctor Strange were fun to see, but they kept it short. However there were big players that are great Spider-Man characters in this show. It’s a show that has an overarching story, but it allows individual villains to shine and to get their 15 minutes of fame. Norman Osborn, Doc Oc, Scorpion, Tombstone, and even Lizard all showed up in some way or another. They all played their role, and they will all have an even bigger role if a season two of the show ever comes around.
On top of great characters that everyone loves to see, there is no better superhero story than watching Peter Parker fully develop into Spider-Man. The key stepping stone for Peter Parker is realizing that with great power comes great responsibility. That stepping stone is a big one for Parker in this show, one that is represented through his suits. He starts with his homemade suit, then moves to his suit that Norman Osborn gives him, and finally to his classical red and blue suit that everyone absolutely adores. Through his suits, it is easy to tell where Parker is as Spider-Man. In the last two episodes when Parker has his classic suit, he nearly makes his biggest mistake, but in the end, he rises to the challenge.
Although this show is not a part of the MCU, it delivers more than most expected. “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” is smart, funny, action packed, and it truly gives off that Saturday morning cartoon feel. So, if you need anything quick and easy to watch this weekend, give this show a try. For its successes and minor flaws, “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” gets a B+.
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